Public safety versus profit?

Contention over laser pointers in Ocean City may sound like a trivial issue, but the risks are well-documented. Despite this, in a resort town like Ocean City, the temptation to abuse them can apparently be irresistible, in spite of laws attempting to regulate them. Existing ordinances banned use of the devices unless for their intended use in a classroom or auditorium. The latest is a ban implemented in May as an emergency measure that bans the sale of both laser pointers and switchblades in the resort.

This ban was not well-received by merchants, and others are unhappy because of a perceived curtailment of personal freedom.

Certainly the devices look harmless and innocuous. It probably doesn’t help that the most common legitimate use of them is educational in nature — as an alternative to the old-fashioned wooden stick used to point to things in a visual presentation. And there is absolutely nothing risky about them as long as their use is limited to presentations, or playing with a household cat who loves to chase the red dot.

However, when a laser pointer shines directly into someone’s eyes from 10 feet or less, it can do more damage than staring directly at the sun, according to a 2001 Federal Aviation Administration report. There are recorded instances of police, random passers-by and municipal employees in Ocean City suffering injury as a result of someone pointing a laser at them.

Sometimes the perpetrators are caught, but not always. Most, if not all, of those who misuse or abuse laser pointers are young — children, teens or young adults. Sometimes problems are caused inadvertently, especially when the more powerful green lasers are aimed into the sky, where they could blind the pilot of an aircraft.

That risk to pilots is so real, in 2010, state police threatened to curtail Medevac service to Ocean City unless something was done about the problem.

But then you have the Boardwalk merchants, who have been doing a brisk and lucrative trade in the devices for a number of years. So much so, a laser pointer wholesaler testified in May against the emergency ban, explaining how much money merchants were making and how much the ban would hurt their businesses.

It’s worth noting that since the ban on sales became effective, resort police went from taking 1,000 calls in a three-year period complaining about laser pointer abuse to no incidents this year. This is despite the fact that laser pointers are easily obtained elsewhere, suggesting that without the temptation to make an impulse purchase on the Boardwalk, people will find other ways to amuse themselves.

Still, it calls to question the ethics of merchants who are eager to sell the devices despite the injuries, the excessive amount of time police were forced to spend tracking down abusers and the knowledge that laser pointers pose a real threat to the community.

Are merchants legally or ethically culpable when a device they’ve sold, even knowing the potential for abuse, damages someone’s eyesight or causes a plane or helicopter to crash?

Is our economy so focused on profits, we’ve lost track of taking the common welfare into consideration when conducting business?

Yes, it’s impossible to predict how people will use things — and almost anything can be used to inflict damage. Alfred Hitchcock fans might recall the episode in which a woman uses a frozen leg of lamb to bludgeon her husband to death, then serves the murder weapon for dinner to unwitting police officers investigating the murder.

But given the persistent and long-term problems caused by laser pointers in Ocean City and elsewhere, particularly other beach resort areas, banning the sale of the devices on the Boardwalk and regulating how they are used — for the purpose of curtailing abuse — seems a reasonable approach.

IN SUMMATION

Do you agree that the sale of laser pointers should be banned on the Boardwalk in the interest of public safety? Share your thoughts in a letter to the editor. Email opinions@DelmarvaNow.com.